im interested to know is it possible to purchase that metalic ink separately?)
or what you can use to get that gold/metalic touch on your deck and to keep it there!)

Now that's a thought! I mentally heaved at the idea of applying metallic ink at some of my decks, although this is more because I dont think I can carry that out pretty well. But I remembered reading that Lo Scarabeo is releasing a Color Your Tarot deck next year. I also remember seeing metal ink markers in our friendly neighborhood bookstore, or (if you want to go full on rogue) those bulky pens with metally-glittery ink. It's just that I'm not so sure about the stability of these inks, in time they might smear or run or stain the backs of other cards.

Have you guys experimented with metallic inks or markers on your decks? Did they hold up admirably or were the results rather hair-raising? Want to share the brand and color of the markers you used?

I think I'm beginning to get the bang of this metallic ink thing. A question though, because I haven't found any definitive answer. Is metallic ink used on the Medieval Scapini Tarot? It shore seems purrty, but it just might be the laminate.

Hello, EmpyreanKnight! It's so lovely to see someone from Manila on the boards, too.

I've yet to use any metallic ink on actual tarot cardstock, but it seems like the end result would depend on how porous the paper actually is. Laminate can definitely affect how the ink "sticks," but if my limited experience is anything to go by, metallic ink always seems to smudge so much faster.

Hello, EmpyreanKnight! It's so lovely to see someone from Manila on the boards, too.

I've yet to use any metallic ink on actual tarot cardstock, but it seems like the end result would depend on how porous the paper actually is. Laminate can definitely affect how the ink "sticks," but if my limited experience is anything to go by, metallic ink always seems to smudge so much faster.

Hi illyria. Glad to see another kababayan here, and with such a princely collection! How did you manage to amass all of that? A friend with a similarly huge hoard travels with her family to the US every year, and this is where she buys most of her decks.

I think the Color Your Tarot must have a receptive surface if it was meant to be inked. I read somewhere that there are processes you may follow to make sure the colors stick to the cards, a form of lamination if you will. I'm gonna read up on that. I do hope that when LS releases this deck it would include in its manual recommendations on how to stabilize the cards after one works on them.

Hi illyria. Glad to see another kababayan here, and with such a princely collection! How did you manage to amass all of that? A friend with a similarly huge hoard travels with her family to the US every year, and this is where she buys most of her decks.

Ah! I rely on ebay and Amazon a lot, and recently, the Trading Forum here on AT. Everything was acquired over the course of the year (mhmm, and also, yikes!), but then I have that sort of obsessive personality.

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I think the Color Your Tarot must have a receptive surface if it was meant to be inked. I read somewhere that there are processes you may follow to make sure the colors stick to the cards, a form of lamination if you will. I'm gonna read up on that. I do hope that when LS releases this deck it would include in its manual recommendations on how to stabilize the cards after one works on them.

I came across fixative sprays in my reading, and I'm pretty sure AT has a few threads on it.

When I was doing online research for my self-published stuff some years back, I came across listings for "card varnish" being sold wholesale locally. Haven't tried them myself - but I did have a self-published deck printed locally which the printers had varnished as well (el Tarot de Marcelino). I was actually surprised we have printers that do that locally (then again, we still have lots of letterpress printers here!).

Anyway, I think that will help a lot in protecting the metallic ink. I tried using fixative in my earlier experiments years ago - they're not that tough especially considering how much wear and tear the cards will be exposed to and if you don't use the cards for a while, they end up sticking to each other. :-/ (although, I solved this problem by rubbing the cards with powder).

Newbie here! I just have a question for those who own metallic Tarot decks.

How long have you had these decks?

I have had some of them for many years.

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Which ones do you use often?

The goldfoil Visconti-Sforza.

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Do they flake easily?

None of them have flaked at all.

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Do you have suggestions on how to shuffle or store them so if the flaking can't be prevented, at least they can be minimized? Do's and dont's?

I store all my decks the same: wrapped in cloths, or in bags and just thrown into boxes. Seems to prevent flaking completely. As to shuffling, I *never* riffle-shuffle any deck. It seems massively destructive of the edges and disrespectful, to me.

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And since we're on the topic, which ones do you recommend? Either for the art, the durability of the metal leaves, etc. Thanks!

The gilding on all of them is completely durable under my conditions. For art, I love the Visconti, the Etruscan, the Botticelli, the Klimt ... all of them.

Lo Scarabeo has a gold-foiled deck called the "Golden Tarot of the Renaissance" or sometimes the "Gold Estensi." There is a single card in this deck - the 10 of Denarii (Pentacles) - that has NO gold foil on it whatsoever. It is the only card in the entire deck without foil, and it is very IRONIC that a card representing wealth should be the card with no gold.

It's a deliberate irony, like the Deviant Moon Deck's Moon card being the ONLY card in the deck without a Moon, and the Tarot of the Dead's Death card being the only card to show a vibrant human being bursting with life instead of the skeletons on all the other cards. Irony is a definite technique that lifts a deck for me, rather than marring it.